Double path interference and magnetic oscillations in Cooper pair transport through a single nanowire

Abstract

We show that the critical current of the Josephson junction consisting of superconducting electrodes coupled through a nanowire with two conductive channels can reveal the multi-periodic magnetic oscillations. The multi-periodicity originates from the quantum mechanical interference between the channels affected by both the strong spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman interaction. This minimal two-channel model is shown to explain the complicated interference phenomena observed recently in Josephson transport through Bi nanowires.